Copy and paste this worksheet as a separate page linked to the Homepage of your portfolio. DO NOT type your answers on THIS document because it needs to be used by other students. The title of your page which replies to these questions is linked to your portfolio and should begin with the first initials of your first and last name. (In my case, the link to this worksheet from my portfolio page would read frzootsuit.)
You may earn a maximum of 3 points toward your final grade by doing the above and answering the questions and submitting them ontime (no later than Sunday, April 8 on or before 12:01am). Any worksheets submitted after the deadline will get a 0.
You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Zoot Suit. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?”
The play opens on a dance floor in the 1940’s during WWII, particularly in the summer (June-August). The main characters are Hank Reyna, his conscious the Pachuco, the 38th street gang, his family, the Downey gang, Alice the publicist, the gang’s lawyer George, and Henry’s girlfriend, Della.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
The intrusion is when a fight between rival gangs break out at the Sleep Lagoon. Henry and his friends are put in jail for a murder, a crime they didn’t commit. This causes the play to unfold and tell the story of discrimination in the court of boys who wear “zoot suits”, or otherwise known as chicano americans.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor which is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
It is the day Hank and his friends in the 38th street gang are arrested for a murder they didn’t commit.
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrustion.)
The biggest question of the play is if Henry and his friends will succeed against a prejudicial judicial system, or if they will fall victim to a crime they didn’t commit. This is answered at the end of the play by his case being appealed.
5. Use Henry to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, ie. The dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Wedding Band the wants of Julia are in flux. They change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a charcter. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles.
Me vs. society – society and the judicial system governing it is prejudicial Henry’s ethnicity, particularly the “Zoot Suit” stereotype that comes with it. Despite being innocent, Henry and his friends have to fight against the legal system as if they really were murders.
Me vs. myself – El Pachuco is a representation of Henry’s conscience. He is Henry’s violent, angry side, whom he fights against throughout the play. It seems every decision Henry makes, el Pachuco is against it, or mocks it, or brings up the worst possible outcome.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Zoot Suit. There are more than one.
While the entire play is very theatrical (in production), I think some of the most theatrical moments in Zoot Suit are when we see the suit stripped from a character, such as when El Pachuco is stripped. There is little dialogue in these moments, but the images provoke the audience’s thoughts. They are forced the see the suits as more than they literally are, instead more as an emodiment of cultural identity and representation.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Zoot Suit. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
The Zoot Suit – The suit is not only the title, but also an image in the play. The outfit stands for Chicano’s, but also for the discrimination they receive simply for wearing them. When the suit is stripped away from El Pachuco, it’s a symbolization of the cultural ties the suit has to the men wearing them. Rudy is stripped of it when he is attacked, El pachuco is stripped down when attacked, and at the end of the play, Joey is arrested. The images provoked in these scenes exemplify the way society demeans Chicanos, stripping them of their personhood and rights. It abuses and demeans them.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Zoot Suit.
Chicanos, race, gangs, violence, discrimination in judicial systems, love, family, cultural identities
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with the dramatic action in Zoot Suit?
Zoot suit expands on the traditional definition of Family by including cultural ties. The 38th street gang is like a family, despite not having blood ties. They’re all bonded by their societal strife and the discrimination of the law that permanently paints them in a bad light. In this play, when everyone else is against you, the only thing you have left is your people.
You may earn a maximum of 3 points toward your final grade by doing the above and answering the questions and submitting them ontime (no later than Sunday, April 8 on or before 12:01am). Any worksheets submitted after the deadline will get a 0.
You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Zoot Suit. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?”
The play opens on a dance floor in the 1940’s during WWII, particularly in the summer (June-August). The main characters are Hank Reyna, his conscious the Pachuco, the 38th street gang, his family, the Downey gang, Alice the publicist, the gang’s lawyer George, and Henry’s girlfriend, Della.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
The intrusion is when a fight between rival gangs break out at the Sleep Lagoon. Henry and his friends are put in jail for a murder, a crime they didn’t commit. This causes the play to unfold and tell the story of discrimination in the court of boys who wear “zoot suits”, or otherwise known as chicano americans.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor which is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
It is the day Hank and his friends in the 38th street gang are arrested for a murder they didn’t commit.
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrustion.)
The biggest question of the play is if Henry and his friends will succeed against a prejudicial judicial system, or if they will fall victim to a crime they didn’t commit. This is answered at the end of the play by his case being appealed.
5. Use Henry to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, ie. The dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Wedding Band the wants of Julia are in flux. They change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a charcter. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles.
Me vs. society – society and the judicial system governing it is prejudicial Henry’s ethnicity, particularly the “Zoot Suit” stereotype that comes with it. Despite being innocent, Henry and his friends have to fight against the legal system as if they really were murders.
Me vs. myself – El Pachuco is a representation of Henry’s conscience. He is Henry’s violent, angry side, whom he fights against throughout the play. It seems every decision Henry makes, el Pachuco is against it, or mocks it, or brings up the worst possible outcome.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Zoot Suit. There are more than one.
While the entire play is very theatrical (in production), I think some of the most theatrical moments in Zoot Suit are when we see the suit stripped from a character, such as when El Pachuco is stripped. There is little dialogue in these moments, but the images provoke the audience’s thoughts. They are forced the see the suits as more than they literally are, instead more as an emodiment of cultural identity and representation.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Zoot Suit. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
The Zoot Suit – The suit is not only the title, but also an image in the play. The outfit stands for Chicano’s, but also for the discrimination they receive simply for wearing them. When the suit is stripped away from El Pachuco, it’s a symbolization of the cultural ties the suit has to the men wearing them. Rudy is stripped of it when he is attacked, El pachuco is stripped down when attacked, and at the end of the play, Joey is arrested. The images provoked in these scenes exemplify the way society demeans Chicanos, stripping them of their personhood and rights. It abuses and demeans them.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Zoot Suit.
Chicanos, race, gangs, violence, discrimination in judicial systems, love, family, cultural identities
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with the dramatic action in Zoot Suit?
Zoot suit expands on the traditional definition of Family by including cultural ties. The 38th street gang is like a family, despite not having blood ties. They’re all bonded by their societal strife and the discrimination of the law that permanently paints them in a bad light. In this play, when everyone else is against you, the only thing you have left is your people.